Friday, April 26, 2013

I am having trouble choosing border fabric for this runner. I have lots of the blue and I found the green at the LQS today. Originally I was going to use a fairly solid peach but it was too strong and took over the blocks.

I was hoping to be using this runner by now. I would be most grateful if you would tell me what you think. Which border fabric would you choose?

I thought after taking pictures of the options I would be able to decide as that sometimes can help.
I hope you get a chance to do some stitching this weekend :0)
Happy Quilting!!

Monday, April 22, 2013

I got away for the weekend on a quilting retreat with my quilt guild. We stayed at a hotel in Canmore in the mountains. The facility was wonderful and I look forward to going again!

I worked on some more blocks for my signature quilt that I started only 3 years ago... :0) There is no rush. I have yet to decide how I will set them and there are still some signatures to make blocks for.

I was hoping to finish this long, skinny table runner. I finished the blocks but once I put in the setting triangles the border fabric I had thought I would use just didn't look right. Maybe later this week I can get back to it.

There were wonderful door prizes! The guild member who put the door prizes together had made these pincushions to put in some. I think they are very fun! There were lots of other lovely handmade gifts in the bags.

Here are the contents of my door prize. The tea towel is beautifully appliqued - almost too pretty to use. There is a little fabric roll with pockets to store extra notions and a little kit for a Christmas ornament and other goodies :0)

It was such a relaxing weekend of sewing with friends. We also popped over to the quilt shop in town. I was elated to find border fabric for my Bird of Paradise quilt. I also found Quilters Dream Request batting. I have heard many hand quilters love this batting but I have never been able to find it. I can't wait to try it in my next hand quilting project. It is so soft and thin - I think it will needle beautifully.
I had brought fabric to start something new but resisted and spent the last few hours hand quilting on my Corn and Beans quilt from last post. It is progressing well for my end of May deadline.

The weather was cold, windy and snowy while we were there but when we went to load up our cars to go home this was the view from the hotel doorway. So beautiful in the sunshine!!

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Lori shared such a charming antique doll quilt on her blog this week. I loved it right away. It had such marvelous variety of fabrics and whimsical piecing. It really struck me as a project a child could have made learning to sew. Lori decided a few days later to host a quiltalong to reproduce this little quilt and I could not resist.

It was fun to pull fabrics from my stash. I decided to size the hst's a bit larger than Lori's instructions. I took care to carefully study the color combinations and orientation of the hst's and I copied it as closely as I could with what I had at home.

I found myself wondering if this end result was what the maker had in mind. If somehow some of the pieces got turned around and the maker - loathe to take stitches out - just kept on going :0) Sometimes when making a reproduction I want to "fix" what I perceive as "mistakes" however, then in my eyes the finish inevitably loses the charm of the original. I am eager to handquilt this little top and throw it in the wash - hoping to capture the worn, used look of the original. But... I don't want to lose momentum on this big quilt I am handquilting.

I debated for a while how to quilt the border of this quilt. I wanted to echo quilt the vine but after consideration decided that quilting would be too dense compared to the center. I took it to my guild meeting and liked the idea a friend suggested to do clamshells in the border. In the end I decided it could be difficult to mark them and execute the corners so I opted for boring old diagonal lines. It is going quickly and I hope to finish before the annual outdoor quilt show in late May.

Although lines seem boring - they are fun to quilt :0) No pesky seams to go through.

So the little Harmony top will have to wait. I do need to remember it though, when I get this bigger quilt finished. I love to participate in Lori's quiltalongs but I've only actually finished one of the quilts...

Sunday, April 7, 2013

I finished my 2nd last block for my Bird of Paradise quilt. I still have to embroider him an eye so he can see what he's eating. The hardest part about making this block was to get it drawn. The squirrels will sit in our apple tree eating apples all the time in the fall but I can never manage to get a picture of them. I found at least 3 antique quilts with squirrels in them but they were never posed quite right.

I am quite happy with this block - I think it's the red apples. I have one more block to draw and I want to put my son in it. I'm not sure what he should be doing in the block. Playing video games seems a little inappropriate... He likes animals but only the "cool" ones like snakes, sharks and stingrays. Playing soccer maybe... any ideas??
While I decide on this I will very happily get started on Vine panel #7 :0)

I finally dipped into my Fig Tree fabrics and started making a spring/summer table runner. I like the long skinny one I made for Christmas so much that it is still on my table. Once made, this will replace it for a few months I hope. I did chicken out of the set in seams that usually go into making this block. (I'm such a wimp!) It's fun to sew with these bright fabrics. I can dream of spring while I watch the snow come down...